1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for quantitatively dividing bread dough or like dough that is kneaded by a mixer.
2. Prior Art
In producing bread a large mass of bread dough, which is obtained by kneading by a mixer, is quantitatively divided by a divider into small pieces. Each of the small pieces is then conveyed toward a shaping station.
In the prior art step of dividing the mass of dough by a divider, the dough is sucked into a cylinder by a piston so that the volume of the dough may be metered before it is cut. As a result, the gel structure of the bread dough, which contains gluten in gel form, is destroyed by the mechanical force imparted to the bread dough by the piston of the divider. The hopper of the divider of the prior art is not constructed to help maintain the uniform fluidity that the bread dough requires when it is throughly and uniformly kneaded.
Factors that obstruct a uniform flow of bread dough will now be discussed by reference to a simplified model of a hopper having vertical side walls as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4.
In FIG. 2, marks A1 and A2 show different levels of the head of the bread dough 1 in a hopper 2. The dough 1 is supplied downward from an outlet that is located at a bottom of the hopper 2, when it is filled up to the level A1. It is faster than when it is filled up to the level A2, since its weight is heavier at the level A1 than at the level A2. Thus the different levels lead to the speed of the bread dough not being uniform, and to being one that changes accordingly as the level moves downward. FIG. 3 shows that the speed of that part of the bread dough flowing downward along the lines S4, in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the hopper, is low, while the speed of that part of the dough flowing downward along the central line, S1, is high. The difference between the speeds of the dough flow is induced by an internal friction that changes over time. That is, such a changing internal friction leads to the speed of the bread dough flowing downward not being uniform. FIG. 4 shows that a force P, produced as a result of the expansion of the volume of the stocked bread dough due to the progressive fermentation, obstructs the smooth downward flow of the bread dough.